The demon general Azagralith brandished his gigantic axe, as if daring us to come closer. Then, he began to chant a spell.
So, he uses magic, too, I noted. From our previous encounter, where he’d approached us as a mist, I knew he possessed special abilities or magic. And now, summoning weapons from the air only confirmed it. Plus, having effective combat magic…
It dawned on me how much Azagralith had been holding back until now. And even with his restraint, we had struggled.
But now, this formidable foe was serious.
However, there was no room for fear. This battle was a point of no return—either I would emerge victorious, or I would perish. Steeling my resolve, I gave my command.
“Charge, Sha-Lau.”
“Yes, Master.”
I watched from behind Sha-Lau’s eyes as he dashed through the air, straight for Azagralith.
Nahan’s serpent of flame struck the demon general, but he emerged from the explosion almost unscathed.
“Fire has no effect on me now,” Azagralith declared. He had cast a fire resistance spell!
“Then we’ll take him down with our fangs!” I declared through Sha-Lau.
Sha-Lau and Kanarg coordinated their attack, closing in from both sides. Azagralith, one-handing the huge axe, first countered Kanarg’s approach. The Dragon King narrowly dodged the quick strike but lost momentum in his charge.
In that brief moment, the Phantom Wolf King Sha-Lau closed in, slipping inside the range of the axe.
Now’s our chance!
“Accel!”
Once again, our consciousness sped up. The Phantom Wolf King aimed his razor-sharp fangs at the ogre’s flank. But at that moment, Azagralith’s left hand was already thrusting toward us.
I watched as the demon general’s lips moved in slow motion. “Too… easy…”
This gave me a bad feeling, but there was no time to issue a command while in accelerated consciousness. Still, I had to react… and fast.
I seized control of Sha-Lau’s body and hurled us sideways.
Just then, a thin, fan-shaped veil, bearing all the colors of the rainbow, appeared in Azagralith’s left hand. It was a spell I recognized well. Fortunately, it vanished before hitting Sha-Lau.
Then, the acceleration of our consciousness ended.
“Deflection, really?!”
“You did well to dodge. I’ll commend you for that.”
This was alarming. Azagralith had even mastered Deflection, one of our trump cards! Before I had much time to think about it, a follow-up axe strike came hurtling toward us. In an instant, Sha-Lau transformed into lightning, zipping behind the demon general to evade the attack.
Seizing the momentary gap, Kanarg leaped in, but Azagralith skillfully maneuvered his great axe, blocking the Dragon King’s claw with the shaft of his weapon.
“A mere interlude. Let me show you some more of my magic,” the demon general declared, quickly chanting a short spell.
The blade of the great axe began to glow a brilliant white, rapidly cooling the surrounding air.
An ice blade…
Azagralith swung the axe vertically. Kanarg narrowly dodged it, but the shock wave sent him flying. The magically chilled axe struck the ground, slicing into the earth as effortlessly as a heated knife through butter…
The ground cracked in numerous places, and a moment later, it split wide open.
“What the…?”
The earth itself crumbled into tiny fragments, which fell away. With a single strike, Azagralith had shattered the floating fortress’s bedrock into dust. The demon general laughed uproariously as he fell toward the forest below.
“What are you doing? This is your fortress!”
“Hilarious, truly hilarious! With you as my opponent, I can unleash my full power.”
“Are you insane?!”
His laughter fell somewhere between hysteria and madness—either he was intoxicated by the battle’s fervor, or he was revealing his true nature. As we floated dumbfounded, Azagralith plummeted toward the forest beneath the floating fortress, crashing into the ground and raising a cloud of dust.
Of course, such a fall wouldn’t be enough to kill him. Almost immediately, a dark shadow burst out of the dust cloud.
“He can fly?!”
Well, I guess it was only natural for him to have some means of flight. Within moments, Azagralith had soared dozens of meters into the air, swooped down toward Kanarg, and swung his axe.
The Dragon King responded adeptly to this sudden attack, meeting the axe with the claw of his right foreleg…
His claw was cleanly severed, blue blood spraying into the air. The slender dragon was thrown back, but he let out an angry roar.
“Not yet! Make me feel more alive!”
Azagralith pursued the off-balance Kanarg…
“Transposition.”
Through Sha-Lau, I caused us to swap places with Kanarg—which meant Sha-Lau narrowly avoided Azagralith’s charge.
The moment our distance from the demon general increased, Heavenly Turtle Nahan unleashed a beam of light, aimed straight at Azagralith. However…
“Deflection.”
The attack rebounded away from Azagralith. In a panic, Nahan erected a barrier to protect both himself and my immobile body.
“The trajectory is too simple,” I told Nahan.
Damn it, Nahan is too busy protecting me. That’ll limit his ability to launch full-scale attacks.
“We’re down an attacker, but… Nahan, stay back and be on standby.”
“There seems no other way. May fortune be in your favor.”
“Right. Keep watch over the area around here.”
While I communicated with Nahan, Kanarg and Sha-Lau continued the battle with Azagralith, gradually decreasing their altitude.
Glancing up, I noticed the floating fortress drifting away from the mountain peak, and at the same slowly descending.
Is Azagralith really willing to permanently destroy his own stronghold? Seems like he’s pretty serious about this battle with us. What is this guy thinking?!
“Delightful!” Azagralith shouted as he fought his two opponents midair. “This is the most enjoyable feast I’ve encountered since descending to this land!”
To us, this is a desperate struggle, but to him, it’s like a game.
No… it might be more than that. For Azagralith, the act of battling itself is a profound test of skill and will. A battle maniac with overwhelming strength; that’s the true essence of the demon general Azagralith.
Until now, he hadn’t found an opponent capable of challenging his strength. And then he encountered me and my familiars. Whether we liked it or not was irrelevant to him; he was just thrilled to fight with all his might.
It was incredibly frustrating, but this realization brought me some amount of small relief. There would be no chance of the enemy sensing disadvantage and fleeing. After all, the demon general Azagralith had already lost an eye and sustained multiple injuries, but he just kept going, laughing with pleasure.
This was a straightforward, no tricks sort of duel.
Enveloped in the red glow of Haste, we clashed with Azagralith again and again. In the air, then plunging into the forest and descending to the ground, the battle spread destruction across the forest. Azagralith’s derisive laughter echoed from tree to tree.
“We won’t let you have your way forever!” I called to him.
Sha-Lau unleashed a barrage of lightning strikes. Each bolt followed a different trajectory, homing in on the demon general. This was probably one of the spells that was still beyond our limits.
“Even if he uses Deflection, it won’t matter now.”
Sha-Lau was right; while Azagralith could deflect one or two bolts, it was impossible to reflect them all. But Azagralith…
“He’s weak.”
Almost as if anticipating the attack, he had been sweeping the ground with his axe at the same moment the lightning was released. The upturned earth blocked the lightning from reaching its target. The bolts that hit the dust exploded, sending purple sparks everywhere and filling the air with the scent of ozone.
“Here he comes, Master.”
“Accel.”
As expected, the pitch-black giant burst through the wall of dust and debris. We could have distanced ourselves from him considerably, but…
This was also an opportunity.
“Charge!”
“At your command!”
With that, we engaged once more, seizing the opportunity to turn the tide.
Sha-Lau transformed into lightning, propelling himself forward. In a fleeting moment as he passed Azagralith, he struck with his front claws. This time, his target was the demon’s right ear—which he sheared off cleanly.
The acceleration of our consciousness faded.
“Wonderful strife! Don’t you think so?!”
Even as blood spurted from the side of his head, the demon general continued to laugh boisterously. He still seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself, even as he switched to a counterattack.
From a distance, Azagralith swung his great axe. Transformed into an icy blade, it expanded vertically, becoming a colossal scythe-like weapon that struck at Sha-Lau.
Having just landed, Sha-Lau bore the full brunt of the attack and was sent flying. He landed with a dull, heavy impact.
I couldn’t deploy my Deflection since Accel had just worn off. We were completely vulnerable, caught at the very moment our movement stopped.
“Ugh… ughhh…”
Sha-Lau’s massive body had been tossed through the air, and because of our link, I felt the excruciating pain, too. It felt like we’d been torn apart. I couldn’t help but scream.